220 Court Square—The Rexall Drugs Building was constructed about 1949 to fill the empty space left in the block after the New Theater burned. As far back as 1933, the theater was located about where the east (left) half of Rexall Drugs is now. After the fire, the New Theater relocated circa 1940 to a building off the alley at the southwest corner of the square. Just to the west (or right) of the theater was a little restaurant stand known as the Burger Tent. It was run by Barney Burnett and sold hamburgers, hotdogs, pie, and sodas. After the current building was constructed in 1949, it housed Western Auto, Delian’s Jewelry Store, and Dollar General before becoming home to Tommy’s Rexall Drug Co. in August 1999. The Rexall had operated next door at 216 Court Square from 1951 until 1999.

Leave a Reply.

Court Square

Rather than being formed by intersecting streets, DeWitt’s court square was designed as a continuous street around a public square with one access street in the middle of each block. The northwest, northeast, and southwest corners have unique lots containing buildings with chamfered corner entrances. The town was platted in such a way that people wouldn’t just pass through the downtown and keep going—the courthouse and square would be your final des- tination. This is an extremely rare layout for a court square—I’ve never seen another town like it.